Last Elf Standing
by Mr. Blender
Summary: 'This was supposed to be so simple. Go to where the bandits were hold up, clear them out, drain the lake so they could get to Old Crestwood. But, as usual, things had gone to utter shite in the way of planning.' Plans go awry in Crestwood when a fort turns out to be tougher than it looks. As if wrestling with the feelings for HER wasn't enough, now Sera's the last one standing.


**Wow, has it been a while since I updated! I do apologize for that. For those wondering where the heck the next chapter of AFBIS is, I will say that it should be ready in the next day or so... I hope! My computer recently decided to go crazy and, as a result, I lost much progress on so many things I was doing... even having to start re-writing completely on a few things. The next chapter of AFBIS was one of the documents I lost a lot of things on, so I'm still finishing up with that.**

 **There will be a good amount of stories added in the next few days, that much I can promise. :)**

 **As for this, well... I'm late to the party with Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I wanted to write something about it! This even actually happened to me in the game and felt perfect to write about. So... without further ado, here it is!**

* * *

"Guys? You guys?" Sera finds herself asking aloud, her eyes flitting back and forth to her allies with increasing worry. Iron Bull was unconscious, lying face-first into the pavement with not a sound coming from him. Solas is slumped against the stone barricade that separates him from a nasty spill onto the ground below, groaning as blood drips from his nose and various other wounds. Worst of all… She had just watched the Inquisitor's sword clatter to the ground.

"Quizzy!"

The skinny elf (looking not even close to thick, even with all her armor on) falls backward to the wet stone of the fort's ground, shield and sword falling loudly onto the ground and ringing out across the stormy area. She has a truly painful-looking bruise forming on the front of her face, her right eye swelling to a nasty purplish color just as her short, white hair covers her eyes completely. Another groan shutters out of her lightly pink lips (now crusted in blood) before falling silent, Sera's eyes slowly moving from the Inquisitor up to the enormous man now standing above her.

This was supposed to be so simple. Go to where the bandits were hold up, clear them out, drain the lake so they could get to Old Crestwood. But, as usual, things had gone to utter shite in the way of planning. She doesn't really think she should be surprised, anymore.

"You're gonna pay for that, shite-head!" Sera yells, drawing her bow and aiming it right at his face. "Those were my friends!"

"Really? An' what're YOU gonna do about it, lil' elf?" The hulking man (apparently the chief or whatever, Sera couldn't care less) growls, hoisting his giant hammer up onto his shoulder with a grunt. He starts to take slow steps forward, slowly closing the distance between them. "Just took out yer entire team… an' all you got is arrows. The others were th' only ones worth fightin'. You? You're already dead..."

* * *

"Three Horny Elves?"

"No."

"Hmmm… E3Q?"

"No, Sera. I think not."

"The 'Bald Guys are Pricks' Brigade?"

"*Sigh* Not a chance."

"No fun, you are… C'mon, Bull, back me up… We're the crew that gets all the action, yeah? We need a cool name to call ourselves!" Sera says, looking back at the large qunari from under her hood. This group was the one that the Inquisitor most often called on, whether by preference or balance. The group consisted of the Inquisitor, Sera, Solas, and The Iron Bull. It was more than coincidence that they had been brought together so many times, so why not give the group a cool nickname?

Iron Bull strokes his chin thoughtfully, casting a mischievous grin down at Solas (whom Sera had been harassing just moments ago). "I dunno. I still think that 'Boney and Meaty' was a good suggestion."

"You are both immature and childish." Solas grumbles, his eyes looking back in annoyance as lightning strikes in the distance. "We have more important things to do than come up with a ridiculous 'name' for our group. We are part of the Inquisition, nothing more. Need I remind you that the spiritual energies of this place are chaotic? The sooner we close that breach across the lake, the better..."

The rain continues to patter on them in an unrelenting fashion, though Scout Harding had warned them that it wasn't all they had to fear. Apparently, undead wankers were coming out of the lake to do some business or other. But, they hadn't run into them on this path, yet. So, their guard was slightly relaxed in response.

"Blah, blah, blah, spirits and shite, we get it… Doesn't mean we hafta have a stick shoved up our arse the whole time. Like SOME people. * cough* bald as fuck * cough*"

"Sounds like you're getting a nasty cold, Sera..." Bull adds with a low chuckle.

"I know, right?"

"Rgh. I'm going ahead with the Inquisitor. Surely she will be better conversation than either of you." Solas replies, moving quickly ahead to where the Inquisitor had been walking (always a little further than her group, trying to spot danger before it reached them). Sera bites her lip a little as her watching Solas leave slowly turns into staring the Inquisitor's ass, the rumble of Iron Bull's laughter coming from beside her.

"Taking all the subtlety out, huh? You're already starin' at her ass, Sera. Not complaining. It's a pretty nice ass to look at."

"Mind your own beeswax."

"You know she likes you back, right? I see her going in and out of your room more than anyone else. She's always wearin' this stupid, happy smile afterward, too. The boss definitely has a crush on you… Heh, ya gonna swoon?"

"I don't swoon. I'm not you… And, yeah… I know she does! She's… said she's interested in me directly. And, it's not like it was hard to miss, before! She's really obvious about those kinda things, y'know. Blushes like crazy, yeah?"

"She does. So… what's stoppin' you?"

Sera has taken an arrow out of her quiver, playing with the feathered end as she groans quietly. "I dunno… I just never thought, of all the ladies I would feel like this about, that it would be an elf. An elfy elf, at that… But, she's so much different than all the rest, yeah? She's an elfy elf, but she keeps it to herself. She doesn't rub it your face, yeah? Most of 'em get all preachy and stuff… They talk like they're better, just because they decided to live the way they do. She's different."

"But?"

"I just… She seems to good to be true, sometimes. What if I get with her, only to find something wrong? What if she changes?"

"I don't think she's changing too much, Sera. She still has about the same resistance to alcohol as she did when we were in Haven."

"You mean, none at all? Heh~ Weiss can't hold her liquor for shite."

"Oh, she'll accept the challenge. But, she always ends up passed out against the bar. Me an' Dorian have an active bet on how long it'll take the next time she tries. Dorian thinks one and a half glasses. I think it'll be a half a glass. At least Varric was nice. He said it'd take at least two or three."

Sera laughs quietly, then looking down at her arrow tip once more. "Yeah, that's… that's what I mean, though. See? She's all these great things… Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, strong lady warrior… But, she doesn't brag about it. Or, forget the little people from way up on that big-arse pedestal they put her on. She has fun! I saw her celebrating with her troops, after a big battle. She goes around and talks to everybody all the time. Not only that, but she listens and is interested! She's just… I'm not sure if I can believe it."

"Sera, listen. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of assholes in the world. I should know. My JOB is to be able to read people. But… Do you ever get the feeling that she's hiding something? That her feelings are anything less than genuine?"

"No..."

"Well, there ya go. No reason not to. With all that's goin' on in the world, we need to be able to have someone to share what's left with."

"Heh… So, when did you turn into such a big softy? Was it all Dorian's fancy soaps or something? That's what it was riiiiight~?" Sera teases, unable to help prodding the massive qunari with her finger. "Don't try to hide it, either, I saw Dorian's walk of shame."

"Heh. Not very subtle, is he?"

"Not very quiet, either. You'd think a mage type like him would have some sort of sneaky spell or something."

"I'll be sure to heckle at your own walk of shame, then."

"Ha! More like, a walk with NO shame!"

"NOW, you're talking!"

"Yeah, fuck clothes, I just had sex!"

"HELL, yeah! Standing naked with pride, glistening with sweat, and releasing a post-sex war cry!"

From up ahead, the Inquisitor looks back at the two as they seem to pump each other up for… whatever they were pumping each other up for. She scratches a hand through white hair, having been interrupted in a conversation about the fade with Solas, a thin eyebrow raising just slightly in amusement. "Well… They're certainly excited about something. I wonder what?"

"Something perverse, most likely." Solas replies dryly, glancing back as he hears the particularly obnoxious laughter of Sera ring out. "Ugh. Her laugh is like nails upon a chalkboard..."

"I think it's kind of cute… Especially with that little snort at the end, there..." The Inquisitor says softly, taking a long glance back at the blonde elf. Long enough that Solas clears his throat to regain her attention, her eyes widening as she tears her eyes away and looks back at him with red-plastered cheeks. "I-I, erm, I mean..."

Solas smiles a little, patting her on the shoulder. While he wasn't sure if he approved of Sera all the way, he had to admit that it was nice to see the Inquisitor allowing herself to fall for her. Weiss needed something like this, under the stress of leading the entire Inquisition. Sera may not be the most… well-behaved, but she was (at the very least) a passionate person about what she believed in. If anything, he had to respect her for that. "It is no issue, _ma falon_. It is interesting to see you react this way, I must admit. You have feelings for Sera, yes?"

Weiss looks back and forth, as if trying to be secretive (though, it really was secret to no one at all) before biting her lip and nodding a bit. "Yeah, but I… don't think she feels similarly. When I talked to her about wanting to… get to know her better, she became very evasive and said that would 'see where it goes'. I just don't know..."

"You act as though you have given up, already."

"It could never work, Solas."

He wonders briefly if he should be encouraging her to take up a relationship with Sera, but only briefly. Weiss was obviously sharing something very hard for her to speak about and admit to. She was a good friend to him and he took great pride in being hers. For all the deep conversations about spirits and the Fade she had come to him (her ice-blue eyes brimming with curiosity) to eagerly learn more about… For all the times she stood by his side and asked for his advice... he had no reason to not feel that way. Sera obviously made her happy to talk to (he has to wonder if she can talk to anyone as easily as she speaks with him. It must be a gift) and to see her smile that way was more than a nice reward.

"If there is anything in life that is certain, it is that nothing is ever certain. You should not simply give up just because you think you know the answer. For, then, you will never know what truly might have been. For all intents and purposes, you could be wrong. But, isn't that better than simply not knowing at all?"

"I… guess so..."

"Give it time. You will see whether you and her are meant to be, in that period. Though, if may state, she would be mad to not consider you."-

"You… You really think so?"

"Of course. What is the phrase the humans use to refer to an exceptional choice for a partner? A catch?" Solas asks with a raised eyebrow, causing the Inquisitor to laugh quietly.

"I believe so… Solas?"

"Yes, Inquisitor?"

"Thank you. I think I… needed to hear that."

The elf smiles in return, giving a small nod to the fellow elf. "I was merely stating what was obvious. You are better than you know, something more to all people who have the privilege to speak with you. Not because you are the Herald or the Inquisitor, no. You are simply the kind of person people like to talk to. I think that goes for everyone. Do have more confidence in yourself, Weiss."

"I think the day I have full confidence in myself is the same day you stop being bald."

"Hm. Well, that is never going to happen."

"That's what I thought, Solas." She replies with a wink, then looking ahead and narrowing her eyes a little when she hears noises on the path ahead. Drawing her sword from it's sheathe, she glares and takes a quick scan of the area ahead. Seeing nothing in the initial sweep, her next steps are extremely cautious. She moves as slowly as she can, only the vague squishing of her boot in the mud standing out amongst her silence. Solas, seeing her sudden change in mood, slowly taking his staff from his back with slow glances around.

"Something wrong?"

"I thought I heard something just ahead..." Weiss replies quietly, her eyes still regarding the rainy ground with caution. "Could be the undead that Scout Harding warned us about. Look alive, back there!"

Sera and Iron Bull, who had been talking animatedly about something or other, are instantly back on alert as the Inquisitor calls them to attention. Sera has an arrow in her quiver by her next blink and Bull has hefted his ax up onto his shoulder by the second. The two move quickly up to cover the group's flank, keeping careful eyes out for any trouble that may show itself. They continue this way for the next few feet, Sera scratching her head when they pass by without activity.

"You sure ya heard something? Could just be the lightning, yeah? Super spooky, that..."

"No. I'm positive it was movement I heard."

"Could have been farther along, boss. Or, maybe it's just people trying to escape the storm. Though, undead are certainly tricky..."

"No shite! You've fought undead wankers before?"

"Of course. Why, this one time-"

" _Fenedhis!_ Would you both be quiet for a damn second? I'm trying to listen!" Weiss hisses, eyes of icy blue snapping quickly back to Bull and Sera. It silences Bull in mid-story, with him nodding silently and letting the Inquisitor listen to the surrounding area. Sera keeps one hand over her mouth, slowly letting her gaze slip over the silent, serious elf as she stoops low to the ground and closes her eyes. The droplets from the rain fall against her face, almost seeming to trace the dark lines of her vallaslin (apparently, it was some representative of some sorta hunting goddess, as she had heard in passing conversations Weiss had with other members of the Inquisition. She had never told this to Sera directly).

The blonde elf has never really paid all that much attention to the vallaslin that the Dalish adorned their face with, usually seeing them as weird or a further sign that made them think they were better than her. That was what happened most times, at least. But, with Weiss (who was one of the nicer elfy elves she'd met in her life), she caught herself noticing more and more about the intricacy and detail in every single stroke of ink. It really was pretty beautiful, in it's own way.

Shite.

She was staring at the Inquisitor and not paying attention to what was going on around her. Well, that and she had just noticed the shite-eating grin that Bull was sending her. After giving him a right, proper flick of her middle finger (as well as sticking out her tongue), she directs her attention back to the white-haired elf. "So, uh… hear anythin'?"

Weiss lets out a soft puff of air, eyes flickering up to just right of the path they had been walking upon. "It sounds like the movement I heard was coming from that direction. Could be the undead that we were told about. Sounds like they're moving down the hill."

"Should we really stop to take care of them? The faster we get to taking that fort, the sooner we can drain the dam. Getting rid of that rift will stop the flow of the undead." Solas says in consideration, tapping his staff down on the ground. "The unrest in this place is heavy… So many angry spirits drawn up ..."

"We have to do something. They'll go toward the village, if we don't. We may not be able to stop all of the undead heading toward the village, but one less group will make it a little easier on them. At least, until we can take care of that rift, of course." The white-haired Inquisitor states firmly, standing from her crouched position and glaring toward the place she had specified. "I'll lead. Bull, I want you right by my side. Sera, Solas, lay down some cover fire for us."

"Of course."

"It's all good, innit?"

"Gotcha, boss."

They take position, veering off the path and taking cautious steps through the mud and wet plants. It doesn't take them long to find the group of growling undead that Weiss had heard shuffling through the land, even shorter for battle to break out. The fight had begun with an immolating blast of fire from Solas, catching the corpse' attention while simultaneously lighting them ablaze. Sera lays down a volley of arrows toward them, Solas blasting shots of fire to further degenerate the rotting flesh. The two elves work quickly to cover their warriors' path, protecting them from any stray undead that might catch them from behind and leaving them vulnerable for attack.

With a war cry worthy of the beefiest qunari warrior, the Inquisitor launches herself into battle. Charging forward with her shield in front of her, she barrels into one unlucky corpse and blasts it's flaming body into pieces. Iron Bull is right behind her, laughing heartily as his ax severs one of the enemies in two. With those two going into complete blood-lust mode, it's becoming very quickly evident that this battle won't take very long. Though, a groan coming from the top of the hill signals the coming of more undead .

"Inquisitor! We have more undead coming down the hill!" Solas shouts to the woman, causing her to look to the hill with narrowed eyes. Just when it had looked like this battle was going to be relatively simple…

"Bull!" She shouts, running over to the qunari and assuming a position that Sera instantly recognizes. It's one that Sera, herself, never really wanted to do. But, Weiss had enthusiastically agreed to do it, the move quickly becoming popular between the two. "Hammer Throw!"

"Gotcha, boss!" Bull calls back, running forward and scooping up the Inquisitor in his massive hand. With a loud grunt, his arm pulls back and tosses the elf like a javelin. She goes flying through the air, her shield braced against her arm, before landing at the top of the muddy hill with a resounding 'boom' as her sheild takes the brunt of the blow. The force of her impact displaces mud and ground, sending a good amount of the undead flying. The ones that aren't destroyed in the immediate impact launch themselves at the warrior with loud groans. She fights them off as she gets to her feet, snapping a bow of one of her enemies in half with a mighty strike from her sword.

Sera watches the elf fight with wide eyes, amazed at how such a frail-looking body could dish out so much punishment. Not that she thought herself particularly frail or weak, but elves in general looked a wee bit… thin for battles. If anything, they were usually spies or something, not full-blown 'charge into battle like a crazy person' warriors. But, then again, Weiss had already changed her opinions of what Dalish elves could be... Why not change it further?

She is entranced by the way the elf's armored arm swings her sword forward, slashing through enemy after enemy. It's almost as if she's become hyper-aware of every movement the Inquisitor's lithe body makes, long limbs expertly working the battlefield in a hale of flesh and blood. The rain coming down trails of the metal of her armor, flying in fat droplets from her hair every time she spins around.

Simply put, Sera is awestruck. How hot the Inquisitor looked when she had that serious expression on her face, how pretty her lips looked when they pursed, every inch of those legs that seemed to go on and on for miles...

Shite. She really was in trouble, wasn't she?

She shakes her head, forcing the thoughts from her mind and once again needing to remind herself that she was on a battlefield and not at some lovey-dovey corner of Skyhold.

Despite her ferocity and awe, the Inquisitor eventually begins to become overwhelmed by the undead coming from behind.

One is just about to get her from her left side when an arrow goes through it's skull. The corpse stumbles about before the arrow detonates into a brilliant blast of fire, spattering flesh and dried blood all over. Bull charges up the hill to join the inquisitor in combat, while Solas and Sera move quickly to cover his path. It's amazing how many undead have suddenly swarmed the area since the first sounds of battle began to ring out. Sera, herself, can't take three steps without having to fire into some arsehole dead-guy just to keep him away. Thank Andraste's tits that Solas seems to be causing them great damage with his fire magic, as freaky as it is.

The swarm begins to dwindle in size, finally cutting off as Bull cleaves the last wandering corpse in half.

"Everyone alright?" Weiss calls out to her squad, dusting herself off of mud and guts before chugging a potion down. They all call out, the elf breathing a sigh of relief as role-call is completed. Her and Iron Bull look a little worse for wear, but a potion each quickly takes care of that.

"Well, that was fun." Bull says, brushing a severed hand still clenching his shoulder off onto the ground. "And, a successful Hammer Throw always makes the battle better!"

"I'll say. Good throw, Bull."

"I aim to please."

"More than that, we cut off a good amount of undead from storming the village, I would say." Solas adds, tapping his staff to the ground and smiling pleasantly. "We need only drain the dam and our work to stop the flow of corpses will be nearly complete."

"Right, but to DO that, we gotta clear out those arseholes up at the fort. That's where the dam controls are, yeah? Hehe~ Get it? 'Dam' controls? Double meanings an' shite..."

Weiss snickers a little as Solas sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, Bull just grinning at mage's annoyance. "Ugh. I recommend we make haste to the fort."

After finishing her laughing, Weiss nods in agreement. "Agreed. Inquisition, move out!"

As Bull and Solas begin to walk up the hill and back toward the path they had been on, Sera finds her voice speaking toward the Inquisitor. "Uh, Quizzy?"

Weiss stops and turns her head slightly, raising an eyebrow slowly. "Yes, Sera?"

Sera pales a little, not having been at all prepared for what exactly she was going to say. Yeah, probably should have thought about that before opening up her mouth… "U-Um… Good job in that fight, yeah? Really tore 'em a new arsehole."

The white-haired elf smiles and nods, sending Sera's already unsteady heartbeat into a series of nervous patters.

"I aim to please." She says before turning back around to walk her way up the hill. As Sera follows behind, she passes the Iron Bull as he stands at the top of the hill. A low 'fuck off' is the response to his smirk, the squad reassembling to continue on to the fort. Confidence was high that they would soon be draining the dam.

* * *

How wrong they had been.

The bandits had been numerous and unwilling to give up the fort without the bloodiest of conflicts, potions quickly drying up as numerous wounds are received in the tight spaces that combat breaks out. The enemies are so numerous that even Sera and Solas aren't able to avoid injury, though Bull and Weiss are the ones to soak up the most damage. After fighting through what felt like an army of bandits, the had gone up a small flight of steps to where the flag would be. Taking this fort would establish the Inquisition's presence and scare away any bandits from trying to take it back. But, as the Inquisitor stepped into the doorway, she was knocked back down the stairs by a massive hammer.

Her body hit the ground with a sickening 'thump', breaths wheezing out of her mouth. Bull had growled and charged forward, though quickly found himself being beaten by the much fresher-to-the-battle beast of a man that had stepped out of the doorway. He obviously wasn't a qunari, but his size could certainly help you in mistaking him for one. As the two clashed, Solas had done his best to try slow the bandit leader down. But, his armor had helped to shrug off the flames that were being aimed at his body. With the smack of metal on flesh, Iron Bull was cast aside to lie face down on the ground. The entire atmosphere of the fight changed drastically when Bull dropped to the ground.

Desperation.

Casting up a wall of ice, Solas looked back at Sera and the Inquisitor. Sera's arrows had been doing little effect, mostly just bouncing off the man's armor or sticking into places that didn't effect him very much. Grunting, he casts an immolation spell under the bandit and retreats backwards.

"Sera! Get the Inquisitor back!"

"On it!"

She drags Weiss' body back the best she can while Solas takes the man's attention, blasting flame that is further shrugged off. The Inquisitor gasps and sits back up, just in time to see the man's armored hand smash into Solas' face. It shatters his barrier and sends a stream of blood gushing from his nose, a blow to his stomach doubling him over. Nearly as soon as he doubles over, the massive hammer slams into his back and his staff clatters to the ground.

"Solas!" The Inquisitor yells out, rising shakily to her feet as the large man beats the shite out of the mage. After sufficiently rendering him unconscious, the elf is tossed aside like a piece of meat. Weiss growled at the bandit leader, raising her sword and shield to attacking position.

" _Fenedhis!_ Sera, cover me. I'm going to get this son of a bitch."

Despite not knowing how this was going to go down, Sera had pulled an arrow to her bow and aimed.

* * *

Now, she stands alone. The last elf standing.

"Already dead?" Sera growls, firing an arrow swiftly into some exposed flesh on the man's arm. "Just like that? Ya think you've won? Not a chance, arsehole!"

"Prove it, then." The man grunts, reaching over to snap the flung arrow out of his arm and toss it aside. Upon further inspection, Sera can see that this man has obviously taken some damage from her team's attack. Along with the numerous punctures from her arrows, he also has heavy dents in his armor from Bull's attacks and gashes from the Inquisitor's final rush of attacks. Even Solas managed to get a few burns on some weaker points.

The unfortunate thing was that none of it appeared to be slowing him down too much.

Sera needed to be careful. She was running on reserves of energy and every draw of her bow was expending that rapidly draining pool. Fortunately for her, she had made a career out of taking down people bigger than her… both in status and in size. She sure as fuck wasn't letting some overgrown arse-hat take her down. But, she was going to need to think of something quickly. The Inquisitor looked like she could use some medical attention, and soon.

As he charges toward her, he manages to get one shot to her face with his fist. It may have been one shot, but it really floored her. A heavy bruise appears on her lip, her nose starting to dribble blood downward. Naturally, he goes for another strike. Though, this time, with his hammer. Yeah, she couldn't let that happen.

She grunts and rolls out of the way as quickly as she can. She can hear the hammer smashing the stone of the floor behind her, bits of rubble flying every which way. Rolling into a crouched position, she knocks an arrow and lets it fly into her opponent's calf. It bounces off and clatters to the ground, drawing a loud curse from the elf as she grits her teeth. The hammer comes toward her again and she is forced to quickly roll away from the scene. More smashing sounds ring out in the rainy air as the man tries to squash her flat, growing more and more frustrated as she continues to evade his attacks.

"Sit still! Thought we was fightin', knife-ear!"

"I look like a daft tit to you?" Sera growls out, narrowly missing another hard smash to the ground. She's looking at this beast of a man every moment she can, searching for some sort of weakness she can exploit. It certainly isn't easy when bits of stone are flying around with every pound of the hammer.

Unfortunately for her, the next strike skims her ankle. From just that blow, she can hear a nasty snapping in her ankle. Pain shoots through it and she gasps in pain, spilling out onto the floor in a heap. If a blow that skimming was so painful, she'd hate to think what a full-on blow would feel like. That seems to be what's on his mind as he walks up to the sprawled-out elf, laughing lowly.

"What're ya laughin' about… arse-biscuit?" She grunts, forcing herself to a sitting position as he towers over her.

"Gonna squash ya to paste."

That's when she sees it. The way she's going to end this fight. There is an opening in his helmet, right where his face is. She hadn't noticed it, before, because he had his head down and the opening was there only for vision (being very small and leaving an exposed 'T' for his face's soft bits). Therefore, the window to his weak spot was going to be a tough shot.

She always DID like a challenge, right?

As he raises his hammer upward, she grins at him. "Paste, yeah? That's what you think."

With a blast of smoke, she disappears from sight. She can just **hear** the confused sound come from above, the big idiot probably thinking she had teleported or something. Using all that's left of her strength, she rolls to her side (trying to keep weight off her throbbing ankle) before limping in a crawl behind him. Her temporary invisibility allows her to do all of this completely unseen, with her opponent growling in frustration above her. After scrambling behind and watching him take a few steps forward, stamping his foot where she had been, she grits her teeth and aims her bow from her crouched position.

Oh, she is going all-out for this one.

"Hey, shite-head!" She calls, giving a sharp whistle to draw the bandit leader's attention. As he turns around, smoke puffs around her and her invisibility ends. Not that it matters, now. The light on the tip of her arrow glows onto his face, her bow drawn as far back as she could pull it. In the crouched position, his weak spot is as clear as day… and he knows it. Based on the way his eyes widen, at least.

"Just say 'what'."

With that, she releases the arrow right into his face. Her aim is only slightly off, but hits a perfect target either way. It pierces right into his eye, the man screaming in both agony and horror before the grand finale… After only a few moments, it detonates into a blaze of fire and sends his face into a mess of gore. The helmet does it's job, containing the blast and only serving to do MORE damage. It makes it a great deal messier than it could have been otherwise. He falls back with a bloody gurgle and a massive 'thump' and 'clank' as his hammer and body fall to the ground.

Groaning and shakily making her way to her feet (her ankle screaming at her to just sit down), she limps over to the fresh corpse and spits a bloody splotch on it. "Arrow beats dumbarse, every time."

She sniffs and wipes her hand across her face, smearing the blood from her nose onto it. She moves as quickly as her limp allows her to over to the downed Inquisitor, who is starting to show signs of life. Groaning, she sits up slowly and looks blearily at Sera as she comes closer.

"Sera? What… happened?"

"You got knocked on your arse by a hammer-wielding shite-head." Sera replies, slowly helping the elf up to her feet. Well… as best she can, anyway.

"Are you alright? What about Bull and Solas?"

"Think they're just knocked out, yeah? Wait, actually..."

Two groans come from behind the Inquisitor, the white-haired elf turning back to see the two teammates starting to rise to their feet. Smiling in relief, she calls out to them. "Are you both alright?"

"Ngh… Fuck. Where's that bastard? He's gonna pay for-"

"It would appear he is dead, Iron Bull." Solas replies as his vision clears, glancing over at the messy corpse laying just a few feet away from them.

"Damn. You do that, Sera?"

"Sure did!"

" **Damn**. That's… beautiful..."

"I think our definitions of 'beautiful' would differ just slightly, friend. Though, I must congratulate you, Sera, for accomplishing such a feat on your own." Solas replies, leaning on his staff slightly for support.

"Aw, thanks, baldy!"

"Right, and the congratulations are gone." Solas replies dryly, though Sera is almost confident that she sees amusement in the elf's eyes. He then turns his attention to Weiss, raising a questioning eyebrow. "So, that should be the last of the bandits, correct? The fort is cleared?"

Weiss glances around for a few moments before nodding when she hears no further sounds in the fort. "I… believe so. That man was clearly the leader. Even if there were still bandits in here, they would likely retreat after their leader was killed. We should put the Inquisition's flag up and get troops in to secure this place. Then, we'll drain the dam."

"Agreed."

"E3Q strikes again!"

"We are NOT calling ourselves that."

"Can we just focus on getting to the flagpole?" Weiss asks gently, trying to mitigate the argument before it even starts.

"Sounds good to me, boss." Bull adds in agreement, rubbing his jaw and cracking a few of the bones in his arm. They all begin walking toward the stairs they had been initially moving towards, before the battle with the bandit leader. They were definitely going to need a bit of time to rest and heal up, Weiss notes to herself as she scans over her teammates.

It's during that scan that she realizes that Sera is limping as they walk. "Sera? You're hurt..."

"Yeah? Tends to happen in fights."

"Well, don't put more weight on it than you should. Here, lean on me."

"I-I don't..."

"Lean."

"Alright, alright…" Sera mumbles, slowly leaning on the Inquisitor for support. She has to admit that it makes walking quite a bit easier to do. The only downside is that she is leaning right into the Inquisitor, her own cheek dangerously close to brushing the other woman's. Hell, her arm was around Weiss' shoulder and was unconsciously pulling her closer. Maybe… it wasn't so dangerous… Maybe, it didn't have to be.

Maybe she could just take that chance.

"Hey, Quizzy?"

"Yes, Sera?"

"Do you think we could talk when we get back to Skyhold? Just the two of us?"

Sera is pleased to see a familiar red cross the Inquisitor's cheeks, the elf's eyes darting away before shyly looking back. "I… I don't see why not..."

"Good." Sera replies, casting a look slowly out across the rainy lands around Crestwood. As they get closer to destroying the rift on the lake... she can see the slightest hint of sun starting to poke through the clouds a distance away, promising warmth when the evil was finally away. She smiles, the pain in her ankle momentarily forgotten as she looks back toward wide eyes of icy blue.

"We've got a lot to talk about, you and me."


End file.
